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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24342178">Lady Maria Bertram and the four children she gave birth to, + the two that she acquired from her sister Price.</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMalhamBird/pseuds/TheMalhamBird'>TheMalhamBird</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Mansfield Park - All Media Types, Mansfield Park - Jane Austen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Parent-Child Relationship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 06:14:55</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,501</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24342178</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMalhamBird/pseuds/TheMalhamBird</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Working on the basis that even Lady Bertram must have an internal life, a look at her thoughts surrounding the introduction of six children in to the world of Mansfield Park.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lady Maria Bertram/Sir Thomas Bertram</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>31</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Thomas "Tom" Bertram.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This started out as a writing exercise- a story of only 250 words would force me to practice editing. Of course, once I'd written about Tom, I felt I might as well write about the other three Bertram children as not- and once I'd written about them I figured I'd write about Fanny and Susan as well. </p>
<p>All 6 chapters are written and barring any unforeseen circumstances the remaining 5 will be uploaded over the next 5 Saturdays. Please enjoy!</p>
<p>A commentary trying to explain some of my thought process whilst writing each chapter will be added to the notes at the bottom, if that kind of thing is of interest to anyone.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Maria stares down at the child in her arms. She still cannot quite conceive how he could have come from <em>her. </em>She loves him, of course. But his eyes, when he opens them to stare in fascination at everything about him, are Sir Thomas’ eyes. The thatch of fine blonde hair might darken to a shade more similar to her own- but at present it, too, is all Sir Thomas. The rest of his general features, Maria’s older sister has also claimed to be as like to Sir Thomas as a- as a- Maria forgets the metaphor Elizabeth used, but that hardly signifies. Even his name- There was no question about the name. The child is a boy and so he is Tom, whilst his father is alive, and  he will be a second Sir Thomas thereafter- a kind of immortality for his father, Maria thinks- and then wonders where the thought came from. “Tom,” she murmurs, testing it out. It’s right. Or at least: It spares the difficulties of deciding upon a name. She runs her finger gently down his nose. It is a <em>Ward </em>nose, Maria decides- whatever Elizabeth may declare about Sir Thomas and his son being two peas in a pod- that was it, Maria recalls—</p>
<p>No. It’s a <em>Ward </em>nose, most definitely. Maria bends her head down to kiss it. Her son opens his eyes to stare up at her. Maria smiles. She kisses him again. And then she hands him back to his nurse. </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Edmund Bertram</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>This started out as a writing exercise- a story of only 250 words would force me to practice editing. All 6 chapters are written and barring any unforeseen circumstances the remaining 4 will be uploaded over the next 4 Saturdays. Please enjoy!</p>
<p>A commentary trying to explain some of my thought process whilst writing each chapter will be added to the notes at the bottom, if that kind of thing is of interest to anyone.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A second son soon follows the first. Maria will not admit that she is a little disappointed. She knows that in general two heirs are considered better than one and she would be ashamed to be thought foolish for wanting a little girl. A daughter has been the fondest subject of her daydreams these nine months. They already have Tom to inherit, after all, and there is no reason why there should not be plenty more sons after, if this one child had been a girl. She has been so busy dreaming up names for a daughter she has no suggestion of what to name a son, but Sir Thomas seems to take it rather for granted that she will want to name this one after her father, and if that is the proper convention it will not do to otherwise. She would hate to be improper. This son is Edmund, then-  Maria is sure that Edmund is frailer than Tom was, fussier. She worries a little. Sir Thomas is not alarmed by it, and he is so very clever that  if he is not alarmed then there is no reason why Maria ought to be. On the other hand, Elizabeth seems to think Edmund not too strong; she keeps speaking of his being a blessing, <em>for however long he may be with us… </em></p>
<p>He will be fine; Maria tells herself resolutely. Sir Thomas is not worried and thinks it foolish to be so. Edmund Bertram will be quite fine.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Lady Bertram wanting a daughter came mostly from the way she fusses over Pug- I imagine that in the abstract, she likes the idea of fussing over a pretty little girl with ribbons and lace, a bit like playing with a doll. I also imagine that Sir Thomas would have preferred a second son simply to secure things- as Mansfield Park controls 2 livings, there could be no concern about providing for a second son if the elder of the boys were to die young, or die without an heir- and I wanted Lady Bertram to still have hopes separate from her husband’s at this point in time. </p>
<p>Edmund not being as strong as Tom as a child just seemed to fit, given how Tom is the one in serious danger at the end of Mansfield Park. I liked the reversal.</p>
<p>Mrs Norris continues to be her usual charming self- given how eager she was to have some dire misfortune befall Sir Thomas in Antigua in order to make herself busy, it doesn’t seem a stretch to think that she’d be the same about a potentially unwell child.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Maria Bertram</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Content Warning for brief mention of a previous miscarriage in this chapter.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They name this one Maria.</p><p>They don’t talk about the baby there ought to have been between Edmund and his sister. This child is the one that matters, even though she wouldn’t be here if-</p><p>They name this one Maria, after herself, and Lady Bertram supposes that they mean it kindly- a balm to soothe the loss of the other one, the one that they don’t talk about-</p><p>Elizabeth so likes to be useful. If she wants to busy herself fussing over the newest addition to the Bertram nursery then she’s welcome to it. But Elizabeth can’t content herself with nursery, has to buzz around this bedroom too and disturb everything when all Lady Bertram wants to do is sleep-</p><p>Elizabeth ought to be married by now. In an establishment of her own. Mr Norris appears to like her- at least, she is the only man Lady Bertram can recall stomaching her for more than five minutes. Perhaps Lady Bertram will give a little hint, in the right places, when she is a little recovered, and Elizabeth can go and be officious in her own home and leave Mansfield Park be!</p><p>Poor baby Maria it is not her fault, Lady Bertram thinks, staring up at the canopy. When she is a little recovered, she will love her little girl a little better. It is just- it is just that…she sighs and shuts her eyes. In her mind’s eye her daughter has dark Ward hair, and not Miss Maria’s Bertram blonde.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Julia Bertram</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Julia.</p><p>Lady Bertram hadn’t known that was her mother in law’s name- the previous Lady Bertram had always been ‘The Dowager’ in her mind. No, Lady Bertram had arrived at Julia quite independently. She likes how it sounds, like the poor girl in the play about the lovers. But Sir Thomas is pleased with the choice, and as Lady Bertram is happy to have him so, she sees no reason to disabuse him of the notion that she named this daughter for a grandmama the child will never get to meet.</p><p>Elizabeth is to marry Mr. Norris soon. Lady Bertram cannot help but feel glad that her own lying-in has prevented her from being much involved with the preparations, nor that she will probably not be <em>quite</em> recovered enough to attend the ceremony. “We will have some peace and quiet,” she tells Julia as she cuddles her. The door is pushed open. She glances toward it and frowns. “Tom, dear?”</p><p>Tom makes a beeline for the bed and scrambles up on to it, pushing a clump of flowers at her. “For the baby,” he announces.</p><p>“Thank you dear,” Lady Bertram smiles, and hopes he has not uprooted anything the gardeners will be cross about. She glances at her maid, who comes to take them. Tom squirms under one arm and rests against her. Lady Bertram holds her oldest child and her youngest and feels quite tranquil- until Tom, regarding Julia with open curiosity, says: “Mama? Where do babies come from?”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Fanny Price</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lady Bertram is almost quite aghast. Her own children are so healthy; herself and her sisters were always likewise- it seems impossible that Frances could have produced such a frail little girl. But then, with Frances’ circumstances so greatly reduced, perhaps it is not such a surprise that her child should be so worn and sickly-looking. After all, that is why she has been brought to Mansfield. In order for fresh air and some good, hearty meals to put some roses in to the poor dear’s thin cheeks. Plenty of the latter, and not <em>too</em> much of the former - too much exercise will surely be greatly fatiguing to her niece. It is fortunate, Lady Bertram thinks, that Fanny has come to them and not gone to Mrs Norris as had first been planned- for she cannot think that Mrs Norris would understand how best to care for such a child. Mrs Norris would have her doing too much, and though she would eat better than she would at Portsmouth, Fanny would not get nearly the sort of fare at the vicarage that she plainly needs. Lady Bertram is very glad Tom thought to suggest to her to ask cook to prepare some tarts for Fanny’s arrival- some cossetting will doubtless do Fanny good.</p><p>(Lady Bertram intended ,in that moment, to cosset her niece a great deal and would have done— had not Fanny’s fear of notice prevented her from coming uninvited to sit upon the sofa with her aunt.)</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Tom is almost purely motivated by altruism....the fact that tarts are his favourite had nothing (much) to do with his suggestion</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Susan Price</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lady Bertram does not really notice Susan Price, the first few weeks that she is at Mansfield. She is there, she is as kind and helpful as dear Fanny.</p><p>She is not Maria. She is not Julia. Lady Bertram is somewhat grateful for that. She would not know how to speak to either of- are they her daughters? Maria, certainly Sir Thomas has irrevocably cast off. She is not sure if that means that she must do likewise, or if some allowances…but what allowances? What allowance for ruin, and disgrace? </p><p>It would be easier if she had died. Then, perhaps, Lady Bertram might feel it more allowable to grieve.</p><p>Fanny’s being there helps, and Susan’s being there helps when Fanny is busy for Edmund or poor Tom.</p><p>When things have settled down a little, and Julia is back home, Lady Bertram starts to notice her niece a little more. She is not so shy and retiring as Fanny was; she reads just as well; she helps her with her yards of fringe as well as Fanny is able to, once she learns how Lady Bertram likes her embroidery things to be. Above all she is a welcome distraction- not a replacement for her own lost daughter, as such- but there were always two sons, two daughters, and a Price in the house- and now that Fanny is to marry Edmund, Lady Bertram can pretend that nothing really has changed. She will have two sons, two daughters and a Price still.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>We know so little about Lady Bertram from the text of 'Mansfield Park' that it's possible to project virtually anything on to her. I have tried, however, to keep her characterisation consistent both within this series of ficlets and with the information that 'Mansfield Park' gives us. </p>
<p>When I wrote this I was working on the assumption that Tom appeared nine or ten months in to the Bertram's marriage. As such, Lady Bertram hasn't quite gotten used to the idea of her *being* Lady Bertram yet- so she still thinks of herself as Maria. </p>
<p>For all that she will later go on to "think more of her pug than of her children", she is somewhat attached to them. Tom has the added advantage of being a novelty, as her first born- because of this and because of the fact that he is an heir for Sir Thomas, which is arguably as valuable for her to provide him as the extra £3000 her dowry was "short of" to claim him, I imagine Tom to be her favourite. (The fact that he is the only one of her children she shows any real concern over in 'Mansfield Park' also supports this, although to be fair none of the other three are ever in danger of actually dying and we do not see her initial reaction to the elopements of her daughters.) She is still fairly indolent even this early on, though- she is genuinely relieved not to have to come up with a name for the baby all by herself!</p>
<p>Children at this time were considered to be the property of their father, and I've brought this in to play pretty strongly here. Maria looks for something of herself in Tom as a way to lay her own small claim on him. At the same time, I imagine her to be very uncertain in her marriage, at first, and so she's looking for a trace of herself in Tom to reassure her that her baby is not quite as grand and unfathomable as the rest of her new life. </p>
<p>Elizabeth is Mrs Norris, as I hope was obvious from the sycophantic behaviour! I read a theory somewhere that her first name was Elizabeth as Betsy may have been so named to curry favour with her Godmother. I liked the theory, so I've borrowed it here. I imagine that she invited herself to come and live with her sister after Maria's marriage- it seems likely that Miss Ward would wish to throw herself in to the path of other rich men (to misquote Mrs Bennet.) At any rate, as she later ends up married to one of her brother in law's friends I saw nothing in the text to contradict the supposition. </p>
<p>As I said, Tom is a novelty; Lady Bertram is genuinely attached to him and he will be her favourite. But she's perfectly content for him to be brought to her for a bit every day and then to be taken back to his nursery. If I had allowed myself a larger word limit I would have included a passage with her imagining that she'll be much more involved when the baby is older, and able to do entertaining things like have a conversation with her. For now, she just wants to go back to dozing. Which- to be fair, she had a baby a few days ago. She deserves a nice nap. </p>
<p>Thank you for reading! I hope that the fic was enjoyable,  and my commentary at least somewhat interesting. Next week- Edmund!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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